Al Hasawi apologised to Reds supporters at failing to return the club to the Premier League and admits that if he was to invest in a club in the future, he would seek to appoint management staff to take the pressure from his shoulders.

“(It was) my dream that I wanted to take Nottingham (Forest) to the Premier League, but it didn’t happen and I say ‘sorry’ that I couldn’t take them to the Premier League,” Al Hasawi said in an interview with the BBC.

“I hope the new owner, I think they will try their best to get Nottingham Forest to where they should be.”

Evangelos Marinakis in the stands during the Carabao Cup third round tie at Stamford Bridge (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

In his final year at the club, Al Hasawi twice came close to selling a majority stake in the club with Marinakis first showing interest last summer, with that deal to see the Greek shipping magnate buy 80 percent of the Championship outfit falling through.

American businessman and former owner of the San Diego Padres baseball team, John Jay Moores, had then hoped to purchase Forest earlier this year, though again that deal hit the buffers late on just as it looked like it would be completed.

Mariankis then returned to the negotiating table to complete a deal in early summer bringing to an end Al Hasawi's reign.

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Al Hasawi explained that as negotiations developed with the interested parties, his hands were tied when it came to making key decisions at the club.

French manager Philippe Montanier was sacked in mid-January after a 0-0 draw at Birmingham City, with Gary Brazil appointed as caretaker, before being given the job on a full-time basis until the end of the season, though that was cut short when Mark Warburton was appointed in March.

“In Nottingham Forest, in the last year, I decided to sell the club. There was another investor, not only from Olympiacos, it didn’t happen with them so during the time we signed an agreement.

John Jay Moores

“I couldn’t bring in any manager, I cannot change any player, I cannot sell any player, I cannot buy any players.”

Al Hasawi believes that the transfer business the Reds carried out late in January helped them stay up, with the likes of Zach Clough and Ross McCormack arriving on deadline day.

“So the team didn’t do well, until the end. In January we brought some good players and we were safe, we didn’t go down, this was the most important thing,” he said.

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“This was our issue that Nottingham Forest didn’t go down to League One because we would like to keep the club in the Championship and to prepare it for the next season.”

With takeover talk surrounding the club in the final weeks of the season, boss Warburton kept the Reds up with a 3-0 win over Ipswich Town on the last day, and Al Hasawi admits that in future, he’d do things differently, and appoint key people throughout the club, something he struggled to do at the City Ground.

Fans protest against Fawaz Al Hasawi last season

“Whatever happens in the club, it is your fault,” admitted the 49-year-old.

“In the future, if I buy a club, I will bring in a chairman, I will bring in a chief executive and let them do their job.

“I will just come and look at the club from the director’s box and that’s it.”

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Despite grand claims when his family arrived at the City Ground in the summer of 2012, Al Hasawi left the club this summer with Forest still in the Championship, having suffered a string of sacked managers, a transfer embargo for breach of Financial Fair Play rules and numerous other financial issues, the former Reds owner believes it was still a good experience in Nottingham, but admits he was shocked at how tough life is in the second tier.

“It was a good experience for me, I learned many things here in this country that I didn’t learn in Kuwait.

"I was shocked, I thought it was going to be easy, but here, it’s very difficult especially in the Championship.